


And He's Drowning

by CastielWinchester96



Series: Deaf!Sam Verse [32]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: 4x22, Deaf, Deaf Character, Deaf Sam, Deaf Sam Winchester, Episode: s04e22 Lucifer Rising, Tag to 4x22
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-29 16:13:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12634602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CastielWinchester96/pseuds/CastielWinchester96
Summary: Tag to 4x22 - Lucifer RisingBobby loves his boys equally, but he's always been protective of Sam





	And He's Drowning

**Author's Note:**

> " " - indicates speech  
> ' ' - indicates signing

"Dean! Were you listening to a damn word I said?"

Dean turned around from the window.

"Yeah, I heard you. I'm not calling him."

"Don't make me get my gun, boy..."

"We are damn near the kickoff for Armageddon, don't you think we got bigger fish at the moment?"

"I know you're pissed. And I'm not making apologies for what he's done, but he's your..."

"Blood?" Dean piped in. "He's my blood, is that what you were gonna' say?"

Bobby sighed.

"He's your brother. And he's drowning."

"Bobby, I tried to help him, I did. Look what happened."

"So try again."

"It's too late."

Bobby furrowed an eyebrow.

"There's no such thing."

"No, damnit! No. I gotta face the facts. Sam never wanted part of this family. He hated this life growing up. Ran away to Stanford first chance he got. Now it's like déjà vu all over again."

Dean took a seat.

"Well, I am sick and tired of chasing him. Screw him, he can do what he wants."

Bobby couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You don't mean that..."

"Yes I do, Bobby. Sam's gone. He's gone." Dean paused. "I'm not even sure if he's still my brother anymore... If he ever was."

Fuming in rage, Bobby turned to his desk and swiped the contents of books and papers to the floor in one swing.

Dean stood up as the older man walked back over.

"You stupid, stupid son of a bitch! Well, boo hoo, I am so sorry your feelings are hurt, princess! Are you under the impression that family's supposed to make you feel good?! Bake you an apple pie, maybe? They're supposed to make you miserable! That's why they're family!" Bobby shouted.

"I told him, 'you walk out that door, don't come back' and he walked out anyway! That was his choice!" Dean defended.

"You sound like a whiny brat. No, you sound like your dad. Well, let me tell you something. Your dad was a coward."

Dean scoffed.

"My Bobby may have been many things, Bobby, but a coward?"

"He'd rather push Sam away than reach out to him. Well, that don't strike me as brave. Neither does, refusing to register Sam at a deaf school to help him learn better, and then complaining and shouting at him for not being able to do research or call out on hunts. The guy used to threaten to send the kid away to a deaf school when he wanted him to fall in line, and then shut him down point blank when Sam asked to go when he was older."

Dean, who looked calmer now, sighed.

"Bobby..."

"The kid had no communication in school at all. Couldn't write until he was eight, couldn't read lips until he was eleven, couldn't talk until was fourteen." He shook his head. "Could you imagine what it was like for him at school being the only one who couldn't hear and talk?"

"I was there too! I know what happened!" Dean shouted.

"Can you remember what you did?"

The eldest Winchester furrowed an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Can you remember what you did to help him? Cause' I can." Bobby took a seat on the edge of his desk. "You were the one who taught him how to read." He paused. "By time he started school, he was at a reading level beyond the other kids because you'd spent practically every waking hour with him in those motels patiently signing to him each word on the page and getting him to sign them back. When the two of you arrived at my house a few weeks later, I was amazed. The kid had barely stepped foot inside before he was off into the library, grabbing a book he wanted to read. I found him sat cross-legged on the floor reading to himself quite happily. When I asked him to read to me, he signed the entire book from the pages, and he'd never seen the thing before."

Dean was silent.

"I also remember catching you stealing that time when you were both staying at mine."

"Yeah, I remember." Dean took a seat, tone that of embarrassment as he failed to meet the older man's gaze.

"I shouted at you for doing it, but you didn't seem to care, which only pissed me off more. Scared that I was really going to lose my temper, I stepped out of the store. When I was waiting outside, Sam came and joined me, looking sheepish. He did your name sign followed by 'trouble' with a genuinely worried expression to match. Lost most of my anger there and then, then lost the rest of it when you came out shoving thirty cents into the pocket of your jacket. I knew you were still hiding something under there but I was too disappointed to bring it up again." Bobby paused. "You wouldn't speak to me the entire way back, I didn't say anything to you, Sam just looked miserable in the backseat. I started making dinner as soon as we got back. I tried calling for you but you were in your room with the door closed. Went into the living room to get Sammy and he was working on a workbook, just magically like the ones in the store we'd just been to." He took a breath. "Found the receipt with it too. Turns out you'd spent the absolute last of your own money buying it for him, when if you'd told me, I could have bought the damn thing."

"You shouldn't have had to, he's my brother." Dean stated, softly.

Bobby smiled internally at the 'my brother' admission but kept his poker face.

"You're too proud for your own good sometimes, boy."

The eldest Winchester shrugged.

"Sam needed it, and you already thought I was some pathetic, failure anyway, so what was there to lose?"

"Dean..." Bobby began. "You really think that?"

"Sam's your favourite, I know, I get it. Sam was everyone's favourite, always has been. He was the cute one, I was just the fucked up, stupid, older brother who people could take their anger out on, and generally call a disappointment!"

"You're not a disappointment, Dean, and you never have been. And you know I've told you that a thousand times."

Dean stayed quiet, gaze once again lowered.

"Disappointments don't prioritize their little brother's homework, tests, and assignments, for one. When those assholes would just shove them at the kid like it wasn't their problem how he was gonna' do em, you would always pick up the slack and help him out." Bobby paused. "How many hand-ins did you miss because of prioritizing Sam's work instead? Because every time I saw you, you were writing out what Sam was signing to ya' ready for him to take in the next day."

"What's all that got to do with anything?!"

"Well for one, I don't want you putting yourself down, not in my house, and not ever, for that matter." Bobby closed the gap between himself as his surrogate son. "My point is, Dean, you're a better man than your Daddy ever was."

Dean scoffs quietly, unbelieving of Bobby's words.

"Look at me." The older man asked, softly.

The eldest Winchester's eyes rose to meet Bobby's.

"You better than this, Dean. Your heart's in the right place. So I'm asking you, please, don't be your Dad." He paused. "Don't be him."

Dean took a breath before nodding.

Bobby smiled.

"Come here."

He pulled the kid into a hug before offering him a pat on the back as he they pulled away.

"Now, go find your brother, you idjit."


End file.
